That's a really good question and it's a lot to answer.
I'm here representing WHRIN, but I have many years of experience doing frontline work with people who use substances, and also in supporting people through court systems. Poverty is the number one challenge. If you're a poor person in Canada, your access to legal supports is minimal. My experience with most people who are in the provincial systems in particular, but also the federal system, is that if they do not have access to legal supports they often end up pleading out and serving time, whether they're guilty or not, just because that is the only option available to people if they don't have money for a lawyer. I'm sure I don't need to talk about how the situation of poverty in Canada is increasing with the cost of living and so on.
Then, there are also all those other challenges that are experienced. People who are Black or indigenous are disproportionately stopped by police. There's plenty of evidence on that. I hope that, as we continue to collect more race-based data in this country in various places, we'll start to see facts and figures on that information.
Again, poverty, race, the address where people are calling for crimes.... I'm here in Toronto, and I can certainly say that when you call 911, depending on what the issue is, if you call for an ambulance the police will come depending on where you're calling from. If you're coming from a poor area, that's when the police will also automatically arrive.
Then, on top of that, another challenge is the fact that we're in a situation right now where we're talking about criminalization of drugs and drug use, which has a direct impact on this kind of law. When people are criminalized for substance use, then the people who will be disproportionately impacted and more likely to be arrested or charged will be, again, people who are poor, people who are racialized and people who are otherwise marginalized.